Apparatus for continuous vertical casting

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for continuous vertical casting which includes extenders for adapting a casting frame for use with molds of different format including a member extending crosswise between the frame and mold to support the mold on the frame and to guide coolant liquid from the frame onto the outer walls of the mold.

United States Patent [191 Peyraud et al.

[ APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS VERTICAL CASTING [75] Inventors: SergePeyraud; Jean Freiche, both of lssoire, France [73] Assignee: CegedurGP, Paris, France [22] Filed: Jan. 27, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 110,175

Related 1.1.8. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 739,032, June21, 1968, Pat. No.

[52] US. Cl. 164/283 [51] Int. Cl 822d 11/12 [58] Field of Search164/283, 273

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,767,448 10/1956 Harter etal. 164/283 2,862,265 12/1958 Vaughn et a1. 164/283 3,059,295 10/1962Vosskuehler 164/283 Oct. 9, 1973 2,708,297 5/1955 Zeigler 164/2832,424,640 7/1947 Spooner 164/283 2,613,411 10/1952 Rossi 164/2833,412,784 11/1968 Wieland 164/283 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS835,790 4/1952 Germany 164/283 903,950 2/1945 France 426,439 6/1967Switzerland.....

Primary Examiner-J. Spencer Overholser Assistant Examiner-V. K. RisingAttorney-McDougall, Hersh, Scott & Ladd [57] ABSTRACT 4 Claims, 7Drawing Figures PATENTEDUET 91m SHEFI REF 4 FIG. '4

PATENTEU 9W5 3,753,924

SHEH MP 4 FIG.7

APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS VERTICAL CASTING This application is a divisionof our copending application Ser. No. 739,032, filed June 21, I968, andentitled Apparatus for Continuous Vertical Coating" now U. S. Pat. No.3,596,707 granted Aug. 3, 197'].

This invention relates to apparatus having universal use in continuousvertical casting. It is known that slabs or billets can be made byvertically casting a molten material, such as a metal or alloy, into amold with vertical generatrices having an internal cavity defining theproduct to be cast. The mold is cooled to enable the material to harden.As a general rule, cooling is obtained by allowing a liquid, such aswater, to trickle down over the outer wall of the mold. For thispurpose, the mold is surrounded at its upper end by a chamber, known asa casting frame, provided with openings through which the cooling liquidflows. The mold is usually supported by the upper part of the castingframe, as by means of a flange machined in a manner to insure that themold remains centered within the frame. The distance between the innerwall of the casting frame and the outer wall of the mold is governed bythe pressure of the cooling liquid so as to obtain effective cooling.

Adisadvantage of this arrangement is that the dimensions of the mold canbe varied only within narrow limits if it is desired to maintain aproper sprinkling action. Accordingly, a separate casting frame has tobe used for each mold having different format of product to be cast.

It is an object of this invention to provide a universal apparatus forcontinuous vertical casting by means of which products varying in formatcan be obtained with a single casting frame.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention willhereinafter appear and for purposes of illustration, but not oflimitation, embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. I is a sectional elevational view through a portion of a universalapparatus for continuous casting embodying the features of thisinvention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a modification in the apparatus forinstalling a short mold in an elongate casting frame;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a further modification adapting theapparatus for use with a narrow mold in a wide casting frame;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a still further modification for adapting ashort, narrow mold in a wide and long casting frame; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line b-b of FIG. 6.

The apparatus embodying the features of this invention comprises acasting frame and a mold of conventional construction between which isarranged at least one water sheet extender in which each extender isformed with an upper portion in the form of a mold support having atleast one of its side edges resting on the casting frame and a fourthside edge providing a support for the mold and in which the extenderincludes a lower portion in the form of a deflector for lateraltransport of the cooling water from the casting frame to the mold walls.

In a preferred embodiment of the apparatus of this invention, thedeflector has at least one of the following features, namely:

adjacent the casting frame, it has a channelled band which stabilizesthe flow of water in the transverse direction and prevents the sheet ofwater from drifting to one side;

adjacent the mold, it has a smooth band enabling the sheet of water tobe spread out;

adjacent the mold it terminates in a draft edge which operates toprevent the accumulation of water on the deflector and which enables asheet of water to be formed for cooling the mold.

Referring now to the drawings, the universal apparatus of this inventioncomprises a casting frame I, a mold 2, a water sheet extenderdimensioned to extend across the space between th outer periphery of themold and the casting frame and having an upper portion 3 in the form ofa mold support and a lower portion 4 in the form of a deflector with aspaced between the upper and lower portions to provide a channel throughwhich the cooling liquid, suchas water, is transported from the castingframe to the mold.

The casting frame is of conventional design. It is provided withopenings 11 on a horizontal axis.

The mold 2 has an inner wall of any desirable section, the generatricesof which are substantially parallel to a vertical axis 21. The mold 2 isalso formed with an outwardly extending horizontally disposed flange 23which, in a conventional arrangement, is adapted to rest upon the uppersurface of the frame 1.

At the outer end of the mold support 3, adjacent the casting frame 1,the mold support is provided with a horizontally disposed flange 32adapted to rest on the upper surface of the frame and, at the other end,adjacent the mold, the mold support is provided with a horizontallydisposed groove 31 adapted to receive the flange 23 of the mold.

The deflector portion 4 is fixed in spaced relation beneath the support3 by bolts 45 and studs 44 in between. A channel section is thusprovided between the deflector portion 4 and the mold support 3 intowhich cooling liquid flows from the openings 11 in frame 1. The coolingliquid flows horizontally across the channel in the direction of thearrow 10 for release adjacent the outer wall of the mold to enable thecooling liquid to trickle down the outer wall 22 of the mold.

It is advantageous to provide the portion of the deflector adjacent thecasting frame with channelling members 41 on the upper surface tostabilize the flow of water in he transverse direction and to preventthe sheet of water from drifting to one side. Adjacent the mold 2, thedeflector is formed with a smooth horizontally disposed ledge 43 in itsupper surface to enable the sheet of liquid to spread out and the ledgeterminates preferably in a draft edge 42 to prevent accumulation ofliquid on the'deflector and to enable a sheet of liquid to be formed fortransfer to the outer wall 22 of the mold to cool the mold.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate the manner in which a short mold 2 can beinstalled in a casting frame I originally designed for a longer mold.For this purpose, an extender 3, 4 of rectangular shape is arranged oneither side of the small side of the mold with threehorizontallydisposed edge flanges 32 resting on the upper face of thecasting frame 1 while its groove31 receives the flange 23 of the mold. vv

Similarly, a narrow mold 5 may be adapted to be installed in a castingframe 1 designed for a wider mold, as shown in FIG. 5. For this purpose,an extender is provided on either side of the ledge'face of the mold inwhich the mold support 30 comprises three horizontally disposed edgeflanges 302 resting on the upper face of the casting frame 1 and agroove 301 which receives the flange 23 of the mold.

It is also possible, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, to install a mold in acasting frame 1 which is designed to receive a mold of longer andwiderdimensions.

To start with, a first empty space corresponding to the width of themold is created by providing along the long faces of the casting frame 1long extenders 30-40 having horizontally disposed edge flanges 302resting on the upper face of the casting frame. The length of this firstspace is then reduced to a length corresponding to that of the mold byarranging along the narrow side of the empty, space short extenders 3-4having flanges 32 resting on the upper face of the casting frame 1 forone side of the extendar and in grooves 301 in the extenders 3040 forthe two other sides of the extender. The flange 23 of the mold rests onthat portion of the grooves 301 which remain unoccupied by the extenders3-4 and in the grooves 31 of the extenders 3.

In the extenders 30-40, the cooling liquid, generally water, flows inthe direction of the arrow 100 and, in the extender 3-4, it flowsperpendicularly of the figure. It is almost possible to extend extenders3-4 as wide as the casting frame 1 and extenders 30-40 as long as themold this would merely result in a change in the dimensions of therectangularly shaped extenders.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that we have provided a simpleand effective means for adapting molds of different dimensions andformat for use with a single casting frame thereby to provide auniversal arrangement for continuous vertical casting in a single frame.

It will be understood that changes may be made in the details ofconstruction, arrangement and operation without departing from thespirit of the invention, especially as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for continuous casting which enables products ofdifferent format and dimension to be cast without change in the castingframe comprising a mold having outer and inner walls defining avertically disposed cavity therein and the vertical cross section of theouter wall defining at its upper portion a downwardly extending arcuatesurface, a casting frame surrounding the mold with a spaced relationshipbetween the frame and mold and having means to supply cooling liquid tothe arcuate surface, at leastone water sheet extender across the spacebetween the mold and casting frame in horizontal relationship with themeans to supply cooling liquid and the arcuate surface including anupper portion having at least one side resting on the casting frame andanother side adapted operatively to be engaged by the mold to supportthe mold from the casting frame and a lower portion in the form of adeflector which operates to carry the cooling liquid horizontally in theform of a sheet from the casting frame and to deflect the sheet ofliquid onto the outer walls of the mold.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the deflector portion ofthe extender, adjacent the casting frame, is formed on its upper surfacewith a channeled band to stabilize the flow of cooling liquidtransversely thereover.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the deflector portion,adjacent the mold, is formed with a smooth horizontally disposed ledgeto effect spread of the cooling liquid during flow thereover.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the deflector, in the endportion adjacent the he mold, terminates in a draft edge to preventaccumulation of cooling liquid in the deflector and which forms thecooling liquid into a sheet for deposition onto the outer wall of themold.

1. An apparatus for continuous casting which enables products ofdifferent format and dimension to be cast without change in the castingframe comprising a mold having outer and inner walls defining avertically disposed cavity therein and the vertical cross section of theouter wall defining at its upper portion a downwardly extending arcuatesurface, a casting frame surrounding the mold with a spaced relationshipbetween the frame and mold and having means to supply cooling liquid tothe arcuate surface, at least one water sheet extender across the spacebetween the mold and casting frame in horizontal relationship with themeans to supply cooling liquid and the arcuate surface including anupper portion having at least one side resting on the casting frame andanother side adapted operatively to be engaged by the mold to supportthe mold from the casting frame and a lower portion in the form of adeflector which operates to carry the cooling liquid horizontally in theform of a sheet from the casting frame and to deflect the sheet ofliquid onto the outer walls of the mold.
 2. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 1 in which the deflector portion of the extender, adjacent thecasting frame, is formed on its upper surface with a channeled band tostabilize the flow of cooling liquid transversely thereover.
 3. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the deflector portion, adjacentthe mold, is formed with a smooth horizontally disposed ledge to effectspread of the cooling liquid during flow thereover.
 4. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 1 in which the deflector, in the end portion adjacentthe mold, terminates in a draft edge to prevent accumulation of coolingliquid in the deflector and which forms the cooling liquid into a sheetfor deposition onto the outer wall of the mold.